Igor Cvitanovic
Encyclopedia
Igor Cvitanović is a retired Croatian football
striker
.
He is currently the all-time top goalscorer of the Croatian First League
with a total of 126 goals, and also scored 122 domestic league goals for Croatia
n club Dinamo Zagreb, 117 of which were in the Croatian First League. He also played for the Croatian national team.
matches and scoring five goals for the club in the league during his first professional season. He was subsequently loaned to Varteks Varaždin during the inaugural season of the Croatian First League in the spring of 1992, making 21 appearances and scoring nine goals in the league before returning to Dinamo Zagreb the following summer.
Between 1992 and 1997, Cvitanović spent five and a half seasons playing for Dinamo Zagreb and became the top goalscorer of the Croatian First League in two consecutive seasons, scoring 19 goals in 1995-96 and 20 goals in 1996-97.
In 1995, he had agreed terms with Middlesbrough
in the Premier League, but the £1million transfer fell through on 2 December 1995 after the Department of Employment refuse to issue him with a work permit
. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football--middlesbrough-have-been-refused-a-work-permit-for-the-croatian-striker-igor-cvitanovic-1523749.html
He also scored 27 league goals in the 1993-94 season, but was at the time overtaken in the goalscoring charts by his then teammate Goran Vlaović
, who scored 29 league goals that season. Cvitanović also scored nine goals in 14 league matches in the autumn of 1997, before moving abroad to Spanish
side Real Sociedad
at the beginning of the year 1998. He scored a total of 104 goals in domestic league competitions for Dinamo Zagreb before leaving the club, becoming their most successful goalscorer of all time.
He failed to find much success with the Spanish side, scoring only three goals in 29 La Liga
appearances before returning to Dinamo Zagreb in 1999. In 2002, he left Dinamo Zagreb to spend a season with Japan
ese side Shimizu S-Pulse
and then returned to Croatia to spend one more season with Osijek
in 2003-04, before retiring from playing.
on 22 October 1992 in a friendly match against Mexico
in Zagreb
. On 17 August 1994, he netted a brace for Croatia in a friendly match against Israel
in Tel Aviv
to score his first international goals. Cvitanović was also part of the Croatian squad at the UEFA Euro 1996 finals in England
, where he did not play any matches. In the qualifying stages for the tournament, he only made one appearance as a stoppage-time substitute.
He went on to make six appearances in Croatia's qualifying campaign for the 1998 FIFA World Cup
, but was dismissed from the team's training camp a few weeks before the beginning of the finals due to differences of opinion between him and coach Miroslav Blažević
. He briefly returned to the team in the spring of 1999, making further six appearances in friendlies, with his last international match being against Korea Republic
on 19 June 1999 at the Korea Cup in Seoul
. He scored his last international goal in Croatia's first match at the same tournament, against Egypt on 13 June 1999. He finished his international career with 29 caps and four goals.
Individual
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
striker
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
.
He is currently the all-time top goalscorer of the Croatian First League
Croatian First League
The Prva HNL , also known as 1. HNL or for sponsorship reasons the MAXtv Prva Liga, is the top Croatian football league competition, established in 1992. The winners qualify for the UEFA Champions League...
with a total of 126 goals, and also scored 122 domestic league goals for Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n club Dinamo Zagreb, 117 of which were in the Croatian First League. He also played for the Croatian national team.
Club career
Cvitanović started his professional career at Dinamo Zagreb in 1989, appearing in 10 Yugoslav First LeagueYugoslav First League
The Yugoslav First League was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and socialist Yugoslavia...
matches and scoring five goals for the club in the league during his first professional season. He was subsequently loaned to Varteks Varaždin during the inaugural season of the Croatian First League in the spring of 1992, making 21 appearances and scoring nine goals in the league before returning to Dinamo Zagreb the following summer.
Between 1992 and 1997, Cvitanović spent five and a half seasons playing for Dinamo Zagreb and became the top goalscorer of the Croatian First League in two consecutive seasons, scoring 19 goals in 1995-96 and 20 goals in 1996-97.
In 1995, he had agreed terms with Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...
in the Premier League, but the £1million transfer fell through on 2 December 1995 after the Department of Employment refuse to issue him with a work permit
Work permit
Work permit is a generic term for a legal authorization which allows a person to take employment.It is most often used in reference to instances where a person is given permission to work in a country where one does not hold citizenship, but is also used in reference to minors, who in some...
. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football--middlesbrough-have-been-refused-a-work-permit-for-the-croatian-striker-igor-cvitanovic-1523749.html
He also scored 27 league goals in the 1993-94 season, but was at the time overtaken in the goalscoring charts by his then teammate Goran Vlaović
Goran Vlaovic
Goran Vlaović is a former Croatian football striker.-Club career:Vlaović started his professional career with Osijek in 1989 and moved to Dinamo Zagreb in 1992, before going abroad to play for Calcio Padova in Italy, Valencia in Spain and Panathinaikos in Greece, where he retired in June 2004...
, who scored 29 league goals that season. Cvitanović also scored nine goals in 14 league matches in the autumn of 1997, before moving abroad to Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
side Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 September 1909...
at the beginning of the year 1998. He scored a total of 104 goals in domestic league competitions for Dinamo Zagreb before leaving the club, becoming their most successful goalscorer of all time.
He failed to find much success with the Spanish side, scoring only three goals in 29 La Liga
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
appearances before returning to Dinamo Zagreb in 1999. In 2002, he left Dinamo Zagreb to spend a season with Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese side Shimizu S-Pulse
Shimizu S-Pulse
is a professional Japanese association football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J. League Division 1 . Formed as recently as 1991, S-Pulse are one of the youngest professional teams in Japan, but are among only five to have competed in...
and then returned to Croatia to spend one more season with Osijek
NK Osijek
NK Osijek is a Croatian football club, from Osijek in eastern Croatia.- History :NK Osijek's early roots are found in club called NK Udarnik that was formed in 1945 under FPR Yugoslavia's new communist authorities on the ashes of dissolved HŠK Slavija...
in 2003-04, before retiring from playing.
International career
Cvitanović made his international debut for the Croatian national teamCroatia national football team
The Croatia national football team represents Croatia in international football. The team is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in the country, and has been managed since 2006 by former player Slaven Bilić...
on 22 October 1992 in a friendly match against Mexico
Mexico national football team
The Mexican national football team represents Mexico in association football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation , the governing body for football in Mexico. Mexico's home stadium is the Estadio Azteca and their head coach is José Manuel de la Torre...
in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
. On 17 August 1994, he netted a brace for Croatia in a friendly match against Israel
Israel national football team
The Israel national football team is the national football team of Israel, controlled by the Israel Football Association .Israel National Football is the direct successor of the Eretz Yisrael National Team during British Mandate...
in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
to score his first international goals. Cvitanović was also part of the Croatian squad at the UEFA Euro 1996 finals in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where he did not play any matches. In the qualifying stages for the tournament, he only made one appearance as a stoppage-time substitute.
He went on to make six appearances in Croatia's qualifying campaign for the 1998 FIFA World Cup
1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th FIFA World Cup, was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. France was chosen as host nation by FIFA on 2 July 1992. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final...
, but was dismissed from the team's training camp a few weeks before the beginning of the finals due to differences of opinion between him and coach Miroslav Blažević
Miroslav Blaževic
Miroslav "Ćiro" Blažević is a Bosnian Croat football manager. He is the current head coach of Mes Kerman in Iran Pro League....
. He briefly returned to the team in the spring of 1999, making further six appearances in friendlies, with his last international match being against Korea Republic
Korea Republic national football team
The Korea Republic national football team represents Korea Republic in international football and is controlled by the Korea Football Association. Korea Republic is the most successful Asian football team in the history of the FIFA World Cup having participated in eight World Cup tournaments,...
on 19 June 1999 at the Korea Cup in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
. He scored his last international goal in Croatia's first match at the same tournament, against Egypt on 13 June 1999. He finished his international career with 29 caps and four goals.
International goals
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | 17 August 1994 | Ramat Gan, Ramat Gan | Friendly Exhibition game An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition... |
|||
| 3 | 28 February 1996 | Kantrida Stadion na Kantridi Stadion Kantrida is a football stadium in the Croatian city of Rijeka. It is named after the Kantrida neighborhood in which it is located, in the western part of the city. It has served as home of the football club NK Rijeka since 1946. The stadium has a distinctive appearance as it is situated... , Rijeka Rijeka Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants... |
Friendly Exhibition game An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition... |
|||
| 4 | 13 June 1999 | Dongdaemun Dongdaemun Stadium The Dongdaemun Stadium, was in Seoul, South Korea and included a multi-purpose athletics stadium, a baseball park and other sports facilities. It was located near the Dongdaemun or Great East Gate and the surrounding Dongdaemun market and had many vendors selling athletics-related goods... , Seoul Seoul Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world... |
Friendly Exhibition game An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition... |
Honours
Club- Prva HNL (4): 1992–93, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1999–2000
- Croatian CupCroatian CupThe Croatian Cup is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after the Prva HNL league championship. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation and usually runs from late August to May...
(3): 1994, 1996, 1997
Individual
- Prva HNL top scorer (2): 1995–96 (19), 1996–97 (20)
- SD Prva HNL Player of the YearPrva HNL Player of the YearThe Prva HNL Player of the Year award is an annual association football award given by the Croatian newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija. It is awarded to the best football player who plies his trade in the Prva HNL , Croatian top flight and winners are chosen by the newspaper's sports editors...
(3): 1992, 1996, 1997 - SN Yellow Shirt AwardSportske novosti Yellow Shirt awardThe Sportske novosti Yellow Shirt award or SN Yellow Shirt for short is an annual football award given by the only Croatian sports daily Sportske novosti...
(2): 1996, 1997
External links
- Igor Cvitanović at the Croatian Football FederationCroatian Football FederationThe Croatian Football Federation is the governing body of association football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIFA and UEFA, and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the game of football in Croatia...
website